Business schools are getting pressure from two sides: growing student population interest in cryptocurrencies, and successful companies, looking to hire graduates with practical knowledge in the technology (tech) undergirding the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin.

Bitcoin Tech Accepted at Ivy League Schools

“We believe it will have the biggest impact on contracting, logistics and supply chains, healthcare, public administration, assets clearing, property, transactions,” Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley lecturer Greg LaBlanc told Agence France Presse, speaking about technology undergirding bitcoin, the blockchain.

“When people think about blockchain they think about cryptocurrencies,” Mr. LaBlanc continued. “Pretty much every function of businesses are going to be affected by this.”

Next semester, Haas School of Business “will offer its first ever course in blockchain software,” AFP’s Luc Olinga writes. The school “will handpick 60 students from the departments of business, engineering and law and split them into groups of six to explore possible applications of the technology.”

Cliche as a Way to Cryptocurrencies

Blockchain, for whatever reason, is the most-oft put cliche in crypto circles. It’s almost a watchword when deciding how new someone is: the more they pepper sentences with phrases such as “blockchain technology,” the more keen listeners understand they’re probably lacking in real-world bitcoin knowledge.

Precisely because its been picked up by corporate business types, ironically, it has become a way for that community to embrace cryptocurrencies … which carry stigmas of unofficial or the anarchic (or can).

“It was originally developed as the accounting method for bitcoin,” Mr. Olinga explains. “But while that cryptocurrency remains controversial with some players in finance, bankers increasingly see exposure to blockchain as a must.”

Yale, Wharton, Oh My!

It’s a new world for business students, and a great deal of that change is due to bitcoin. As AFP notes, students “who wish to work in trading must learn how to code, while bankers need to understand algorithms and big data to be able to attract new clients and devise strategies for fast-changing markets.”

“At Yale, about 20 percent of 2016 graduates found jobs in finance,” according to AFP.

Yale School of Management

Yale School of Management’s Stephen Daffron puts a finer point on it, saying if students “don’t understand how to evaluate a company that tries to employs blockchain, then they won’t probably be a good fit for us.” .

The Wharton School’s Barbara Hewitt explains, “I increasingly see students opting to explore technical minors, such as in computer science, to be well prepared for the growing use of technology in many fields.”

What do you think of business schools teaching blockchain tech? Tell us in the comments below!

Images courtesy of: Pixabay, Yale School of Management.

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